As various campaigns begin to plot a strategy for the general election, Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Lucy Flores finds herself in the same position that her Republican opponent Mark Hutchison was in at the beginning of the primary election campaign.

Flores, an assemblywoman from Las Vegas, is not well known in Washoe County.

Hutchison, a state senator from Las Vegas, was in the same predicament a few months ago. But through weekly trips and long stopovers, Hutchison almost doubled the vote total in Washoe County (15,505) that opponent Sue Lowden received (8,415) in the GOP primary.

And Lowden started the race with the advantage on having many friends in Reno from her failed 2010 U.S. Senate race.

Flores, meanwhile, had an easy primary, with "none of these candidates" coming in second place. She was untouchable in the primary, especially after earning the support of the Nevada Democratic Party and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. She took 71 percent of the vote.

Now, she has a real battle on her hands and acknowledges her lack of name recognition in the north must be fixed.

"I have been up there quite a bit as well," Flores said about Washoe County. "Obviously, I was not in a high-profile primary so I didn't get the same amount of news coverage. I wasn't running ads.

"It's natural his (Hutchison's) name recognition is going to be a little higher than mine, especially up in Northern Nevada. But if anybody knows me a little bit, they know that I am an incredibly hard worker. My elections have always been won with some really great numbers, with substantial leads. And the reason why is that I work for every single vote.

"Do I have some work to do?" Flores said. "Of course. But not for a moment am I afraid of doing that hard work."

The great speculation

The lieutenant governor's race —because of the speculation that Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval may run against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 2016 — has been given elite status in the 2014 general election. If Sandoval ran and beat Reid in 2016, then the winner of the lieutenant governor's race – either Flores or Hutchison – would automatically become governor.

Its marquee value is further boosted because the ballot does not have any close or compelling races for governor, U.S. Senate or the U.S. House of Representatives.

Those factors make this perhaps the biggest lieutenant governor race in state history — at least the biggest since 1986 when Democratic Gov. Richard Bryan and then Lt. Gov. Bob Miller were involved in a similar scenario. In 1988, Bryan won a seat in the U.S. Senate and Miller was elevated to the governor's office.

"I'm very confident that this will be the most costly lieutenant governor's race in the history of Nevada," Hutchison said. "I think it already has been and I don't see there being much of a difference in the general."

Already, Hutchison raised $1.4 million and spent more than $1 million. Flores has raised about $350,000 this year, spent about $94,000, according to campaign finance reports filed with the secretary of state.

Yet money is not Flores' biggest problem.

Sandoval's popular coattails are wrapped around Hutchison. The popular Nevada governor is Hutchison's No. 1 supporter, endorsed him minutes after he declared his candidacy and will help Hutchison with his strong presence at the top of the ticket.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to have Brian Sandoval at the top of our ticket," Hutchison said. "He will drive enthusiasm, support and energy and that will be a great advantage for us going into November."

Flores has no Sandoval-like help. The gubernatorial candidate for the Democrats is Bob Goodman, 80, of Las Vegas (no relation to Las Vegas mayors Carolyn and Oscar Goodman), who came in second to "none of these candidates" in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

"Flores is on her own," said Eric Herzik, the chairman of the political science department at the University of Nevada, Reno. "She is, in a sense, running against Sandoval and Hutchison. The governor has made it very clear that this is the guy he wants and he's got the resources to help him.

"Flores doesn't get that help from anybody," Herzik said. "Harry Reid may be able to provide behind-the-scene help and money. But Reid has never been the guy who is out front saying, 'I'm with Lucy, let's go and help her campaign.' "

Flores already finds herself fighting Hutchison and Sandoval.

"I am not in a race against Brian Sandoval," Flores said. "I am ready to talk about myself and why I am qualified and why voters should vote for me as opposed to my opponent.

"I believe the people of Nevada deserve a candidate for lieutenant governor who is going to talk about himself and what he intends to do with the office and what qualities he brings to the table — and not boasting about being completely aligned with the governor," Flores said.

"At the end of the day, this is an independent office and has independent duties and I believe, deserves independent thought," Flores said.

Lowden's potential impact

Flores echoed the views of Lowden, who also tried to separate Hutchison from Sandoval. Lowden said Hutchison used Sandoval as a "crutch" during their final debate in May.

"I am always happy to talk with anyone of any party," Flores said. "I would be more than happy to have a conversation with Sue. But she has already stated that she is going to support the Republican nominee so I can't imagine that she would consider giving me a whole lot of help."

Hutchison is the favorite in this election, Herzik said. Yet Flores has a formidable weapon — the Reid Machine — or the ability for Nevada Democrats to get out the vote.

"The Democrats don't have a lot of star power on their side of the ballot this year. So they will need that grass roots, get-out-the-vote campaign. They didn't have to warm up the engine (on the Reid machine) in the primary so that means they will have to get up to speed right away in the general election."

Democrats must rally their voters, Herzik. They have about a 112,000 advantage in the number of registered voters, according to statistics from the secretary of state.

"For the Democrats, it is all about turning those registrants into voters," Herzik said. "That is what it comes down to."

Attorney general's race

Herzik sees the Democrat as the favorite in the other marquee match up on the November ballot — the race for Nevada attorney general.

This race pits the son of a governor, Democrat Ross Miller, against the grandson of a governor, Republican Adam Laxalt. Yet the royal bloodlines may help Miller more than Laxalt.

Adam Laxalt's grandfather, Paul Laxalt, left the U.S. Senate 27 years ago, after first serving as governor. Bob Miller left office just 15 years ago, and goes down in history as Nevada's longest serving governor with 10 years in office.

"There are clear favorites in both races and Ross Miller is the favorite to win the attorney general's race," Herzik said. "Laxalt is a quality candidate but he is a first-time candidate. He's got the Laxalt name, but I don't know how far that takes you anymore. His grandfather has been out of politics for a long time. The majority of Nevadans probably moved here after he left the (U.S.) Senate."

So far, both camps have argued who has the most legal experience. Laxlat, 35, is a relative newcomer to Nevada. He moved here in 2011 to begin a law career in Las Vegas at Lewis and Roca LLP after being raised by his mother in the Washington, D.C., area.

He graduated from Georgetown Law in 2005 and became a lawyer for the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps. He's taught constitutional law at the U.S. Naval Academy and has prosecuted al-Qaida operatives in Iraq.

Miller, the secretary of state for the base 7 ½ years, was a deputy district attorney in Clark County before becoming secretary of state.

"I am really not trying to come out against Ross at all," Laxalt said recently. "I guess my main point is that the secretary of state is not a legal job. It is not a position where you are a lawyer and your job is to be a lawyer."

Miller said that statement is far from the truth.

"Remember that I led the criminal investigation in ACORN (for voter registration fraud)," Miller said. "I've also been very aggressive in leading the securities division to protect Nevadans from white-collar crime, and these are cases that are referred directly to the attorney general's office. So I have worked very closely as secretary of state with the attorney general's office. In fact, I sit on some of the same boards that the attorney general does. So in some ways, I've been performing some of those duties already."

Miller would not comment on Laxalt's time as a lawyer.

"I don't know much about Adam Laxalt or his legal experience," Miller said.